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Time & Place: My design for living

Zandra Rhodes on the restored Notting Hill house she sold to fund a dream

I sold my home in Notting Hill Gate, west London, to buy a warehouse to convert into a fashion and textiles museum. It’s a home that meant everything to me.

When I bought 28 St Stephen’s Gardens, in about 1971, it was priced at £28,000, but I had to take out a very expensive bridging loan, so I suppose it cost me about £45,000.

I bought it with two floors of sitting tenants, and that’s why it was cheaper and I could afford it. No 28 was so derelict that my friends had to swallow hard when they looked at it.

The tenants were wonderful. There was an old couple on the ground floor, a little old lady who ran John Lewis’s kitchens on the second, and the top floor was empty. They were with me for about 10 or 15 years.